1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
English Standard Version
31 But (A)earnestly desire the higher gifts.
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
The Way of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have (B)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, (C)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 (D)If I give away all I have, and (E)if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 (F)Love is patient and (G)kind; love (H)does not envy or boast; it (I)is not arrogant 5 or rude. It (J)does not insist on its own way; it (K)is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it (L)does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but (M)rejoices with the truth. 7 (N)Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, (O)endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For (P)we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but (Q)when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For (R)now we see in a mirror dimly, but (S)then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as (T)I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast
- 1 Corinthians 13:5 Greek irritable and does not count up wrongdoing
Psalm 33:2-5
English Standard Version
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the (A)lyre;
make melody to him with (B)the harp of (C)ten strings!
3 Sing to him (D)a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in (E)faithfulness.
5 He (F)loves righteousness and justice;
(G)the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
Psalm 33:12
English Standard Version
12 (A)Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has (B)chosen as his heritage!
Psalm 33:22
English Standard Version
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Luke 7:31-35
English Standard Version
31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’
33 For John the Baptist has come (A)eating no bread and (B)drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come (C)eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, (D)a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet (E)wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Read full chapterThe Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.